Having paid homage to old-school slashers with the Hatchet trilogy, writer/director Adam Green tries a far more contemporary style of horror on for size: the mockumentary.
Playing himself to an assumedly exaggerated degree — one not far from the character he plays on his Holliston cable-television series, which is to say they reside on the same map point — Green documents his dealings with William Dekker (Ray Wise, TV’s Twin Peaks), who not only claims monsters exist, but that he can deliver undeniable proof. Amusement grows to amazement as Green — accompanying Dekker on nocturnal trips to Rocky Pointe Natural Park — begins to believe the truth is out there … right in front of his smirking face.
Remarkably, Digging Up the Marrow is what the Hatchets were not: scary. Genuinely freak-me-out scary. (Making this all the more rare: how purposely humorous much of the film is.) The monsters may be fleeting, but the appearances they make are frighteningly memorable. That may not be the case if someone else had designed them other than Alex Pardee. His work was foreign to me before this film, but the supremely gifted artist must be known well enough in some circles to merit equal billing with Green atop the poster. The placement is deserved.
From years of observation and study, Dekker has catalogued the creatures extensively, giving them names (like Vance) and knowing their quirks (“They like pancakes”). Sharing these tidbits deadpan is where Wise’s casting proves pitch-perfect. Without someone that solid an actor, who can straddle the beam of crazed yet likable, Digging Up the Marrow would be a pointless endeavor. Luckily, like Green’s 2010 thriller, Frozen, it shows his talents extend far beyond depicting ultrarealistic gushes of blood. —Rod Lott